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Media coverage on transit safety doesn’t give the system a fair shake, according to complaints from TransLink communications staff.

Local media outlets cover transit safety stories “in such a way as to indicate a crisis or create a climate of fear in the public,” TransLink public information officer Drew Snider wrote in an internal memo circulated to SkyTrain staff, bus drivers and transit police officers, as well as posted on the spokesperson’s personal blog.

In particular, Snider takes issue with recent reports on TV station Global BC, in which he claims the newscast aired stories with “inaccurate facts and questionable credibility,” despite being given contrary information by TransLink. (Global BC has since aired a story somewhat disputing the assertions.)

TransLink officials have long complained of various media stories that question transit safety. Asked to clarify his views in an interview, Snider said such news pieces unfairly tarnish the transit authority.

“Because there have been a lot of other stories that rightly or wrongly implicated SkyTrain, the story gets out there,” Snider said. “People start getting the climate of fear going around them where they think they’re not safe to get on the train.

“… We’ll take our knocks when we get them. But the fact is [taking transit] is not a scary proposition as some people might think it is. And a lot of it is because of the way [transit safety] has been portrayed.”

Snider claimed media stories frequently and often incorrectly use SkyTrain stations as a way to locate crimes.

“It plants an image in people’s minds that the system itself is not safe,” Snider said. “And we don’t believe it’s reached that point.”

But NDP MLA Adrian Dix, a frequent critic of transit security procedures after high-profile muggings hit the news in his riding, maintains there is a real security issue on transit.

“The fact is that transit police and transit staff are rarely at transit stations when incidents happen and this is a problem,” Dix said.

“TransLink seems focused on their image, which is a misplaced priority.”

CAW local 111 president Don MacLeod, head of the union representing transit operators, said he wasn’t sure if media stories on safety were exaggerated.

“But there are times when there are assaults that happen out there on drivers that don’t make the press,” MacLeod said.

The following is a copy of TransLink's memo:

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS TO ALL STAFF AND TO BE POSTED IN ALL CREW ROOMS AT SKYTRAIN, GVTAPS and CMBC

To our colleagues at TransLink and operating companies,

We might want to begin this by saying, “More questions are being raised tonight about Global TV reporting” since this is the angle the TV station has taken on recent stories related to SkyTrain safety and security.

We wanted to share the questions we're posing about the station's coverage because their recent reports have turned items with inaccurate facts and questionable credibility into news stories, with the result that viewers of Global TV, which has the highest viewership in the province, are getting an untrue picture of the subject. Since these stories affect all of us – particularly our front-line personnel such as STAs, Transit Police and Security officers and CMBC operators, we’d like to address these stories and provide you with the facts.

The most recent – and egregious – of these examples was a story aired on Friday noon and evening, involving a man called “Dean”, who intervened to help a woman who was being harassed at Surrey Central station. They got on SkyTrain (inbound) and Dean was assaulted by the man who was harassing the woman. He told the Global reporter, who in turn broadcast the comments, that he pressed the “yellow strip” “15 times” without response, that he called 911, and that, when the train arrived at Scott Road “security” took the assailant into custody; he then claims he waited 40 minutes for police to arrive.

The headline of the story: it took transit police 40 minutes to respond.

Here are the facts:

According to records from both SkyTrain OMC and GVTAPS, the initial emergency call came at 10:18 pm, someone was dispatched at 10:21, the assailant was detained at Scott Road (not clear if it was Transit Security or an STA) at 10:24 and police took the man into custody at 10:34.

Elapsed time from first alarm to the end of the incident itself: about 6 minutes
Elapsed time from the first alarm to the police arrest: 16 minutes – not 40.

SkyTrain records indicate that the yellow strip – the silent alarm – was pressed three times, not 15, and that the intercom was activated twice. GVTAPS also obtained information from E-Comm that there was no 911 call relating to the incident. In spite of the fact that we had provided the reporter with the data from GVTAPS showing that Dean’s version of events was wildly different from the version our records show, Global didn’t challenge Dean's allegations and, in fact, continued to headline the story with Dean's claim.

Earlier in the week, Global ran a story about a woman who claimed she’d fought off a mugger at Main St Station “9 to 9-1/2 months ago”, that she’d picked up an “emergency phone " to report the incident , but received a recorded message telling her to call back during office hours . The story also claimed that she’d written to TransLink to complain and heard nothing back.

The reporter on this story provided us with the person's name. Customer Relations checked the files going back several years, and failed to find any record of the complaint – conducting searches for variations on the name, including the surname alone. When informed of this, the reporter provided a different first name for the complainant and said that he would provide a copy of her correspondence to TransLink. No such correspondence has been provided.

It turned out that the woman had picked up the Customer Information phone. In the interview, the reporter offered an opinion that it might be hard to spot the emergency phone (10 feet away), and the woman followed that lead. However, the reporter also did “streeters” – interviews with passers-by – and at least one pointed out that there was also a bank of three pay phones, where one could dial 911 at no charge. That interview did not make it into the story.

Both the reporter and the cameraman on this story expressed reservations about the credibility of the complainant, but the station ran the story anyway.

In both stories, I informed the reporters of the video, “Safety and Security on SkyTrain”, in which Doug Kelsey describes and demonstrates the safety features in SkyTrain cars and on platforms. Neither reporter mentioned it in his story.

These incidents have led to demands for SkyTrain stations to be staffed with a “human presence” at all times. A news conference that drew attention to the case of Sheshleen Datt, the teenage girl who was accosted by a group of teenage girls a month ago at the entrance to Nanaimo Station also brought out the parents of Matthew Martins, who was murdered three years ago at Surrey Central. In a highly emotional moment, Matthew’s mother was shown on the Global news story (and quoted in the Province newspaper story) stating that her “little boy was beaten to death on the platform”.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this was a tragic incident, but we have maintained all along that it was not an issue of "SkyTrain safety and security." The facts of the case, as most of us know by now, are that Matthew was not beaten to death on the platform, but at the entrance as a result of an incident that began some distance away in the early morning hours after SkyTrain had shut down for the night and the station was closed. The TV station would have known this as well, but opted to run the comments.

As with similar stories in the past year and a half, they are presented by the media as "another in a series" of criminal incidents on SkyTrain, and in such a way as to indicate a crisis or create a climate of fear in the public. (As in, “more questions are being raised tonight about safety on SkyTrain …”, as we began this message.)

This theme does not stand up to the facts, and many times the facts we have provided the reporters -- such as documentation of police response times and the actual circumstances of the incidents, including the murder of young Matthew three years ago -- seem not to change their handling of these stories. In addition, we have regularly challenged some print and broadcast outlets on the practice of using SkyTrain stations to 'locate' incidents that have actually happened some distance away. For example, a serious assault occurred a few months ago at a McDonald's restaurant at the north end of Scott Road, but incident was reported to have taken place "near the Scott Road SkyTrain Station." Some media outlets, notably CKNW, have responded positively to our concerns. Others have not.

(One point we need to mention is that Global did give Doug Kelsey the opportunity to present the facts regarding the timing of the “Dean” incident. However, due to a technical problem with Doug’s cell phone provider on Saturday, phone calls that morning from myself, the Global assignment desk and the Global reporter went to voice mail and the messages were not delivered until mid-afternoon, when it was too late to do the interview.)

These are matters that impact public confidence in TransLink, they unduly raise fear and apprehension in the community and they serve to obscure the reality of safety and security issues. As a result, calls are made for remedies that could well mis-use resources while the real problems go unresolved. As importantly, it potentially leaves transit staff subject to negative public reaction.

Ken Hardie (TransLink Director of Communications), Peter Louwe (Manager of Media Relations) and I will be arranging a meeting with the Global TV news director, Ian Haysom, to discuss our concerns. We find it troubling that the most-watched newscast in the province would run stories in which the sources had obvious gaps in their credibility. As well, SkyTrain, GVTAPS and TransLink communications are working on short- and long-term strategies to get our messages of safety and security, as well as improvements to the system and things members of the public can do to heighten their own security, out to the public without having to rely on the news media.

Should members of the public ask you about these specific stories, simply tell them that some of the facts have been proven wrong, and if you have the time, please take the opportunity to point out to them the safety and security features at SkyTrain stations.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Drew Snider
Public Information Officer
TransLink
South Coast British Columbia
Transportation Authority

Tags: vancouver, translink, transit, safety